Description

Flash Point is inspired by the arcade game Robotron. The story is that an alien fleet landed in the capital city of the United World Nations and the player has to defend it for as long as possible using a tank.

The gameplay is divided in two main screens. The first screen is the city map, which shows the areas being attacked by the aliens as flashing points (hence the game's name). The areas will flash faster as time passes by, until they are completely destroyed or until the player moves to that area to defend it. Once the player reaches one of those areas, the game changes to the second screen, which shows the tank in the center of a green park area, with buildings around it. There are several aliens in this area, which will start homing the player, destroying the terrain in their way. The player has to destroy them as quick as possible, trying to save as much terrain (specially the central green area) as possible for a higher score. Once all aliens are destroyed, the player is sent back to the map screen to select another area. Moving in the map screen is faster on streets, slower on other ground types.

The tank is controlled using both joysticks, one for movement and one for shooting in all eight possible directions. The game was released with a frame to hold both joysticks together. The player has 3 lives and one extra life is earned for each 30,000 points scored. The game has also a high score table.